Ch. 02. Party Time!
“Ehh . . . hello?” Harry said cautiously to the strange creature before him.
“Harry Potter!” the being cried in a high-pitched voice. “Long, so long, has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir . . . Such an honour it is . . ..”
Harry narrowed his eyes. Another rabid fan? “And you are?” he prompted warily, his wand sliding into his hand from its holster. Weren’t the spells on the Weasley homestead set to only allow friends to pop in?
“Dobby, sir,” said the house-elf.
Harry nodded. “And what can I do for you?” he asked cautiously.
The creature stared at him, stunned. “Do for . . . me!?” he cried. “Never . . . never ever . . . has . . . anyone . . ..” The elf burst into tears, bawling loudly.
Harry sighed. Dobby was worse than any of the fangirls, or fanboys, he had met at Hogwarts. They usually just blushed bright-red and ran away. This was going to take a while. Unfortunately, the tree-leaves hid him from the sky, so Ginny wouldn’t be able to spot and rescue him. He sighed and dropped down to sit cross-legged on the ground.
“Please, sit down,” said Harry politely.
The elf choked and sobbed even more. “Never . . . never has a wizard asked Dobby, lowly Dobby, to sit down . . . like an equal . . ..”
Harry sighed. Knowing wizards and witches, he could easily believe that was true. He patiently waited. With a twist of his wrist and a flex of his fingers, the wand shot back into the holster.
Dobby managed to calm himself as he slowly lowered himself to the ground. He sat hiccoughing, with his great eyes fixed on Harry in an expression of watery adoration. He took a deep breath. “Dobby must tell you, sir . . . it is hard, sir . . . Dobby doesn’t know where to begin . . ..”
“The beginning is always best, my mum tells me,” Harry said dryly.
Dobby shook his head slowly. Suddenly, he jumped up and started banging his head furiously on a nearby tree, shouting, “Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!”
“Stop! Stop that! What are you doing?” Harry hissed, springing up and pulling Dobby back.
The elf was slightly cross-eyed, and staggered a bit. “Dobby has to punish himself, sir. Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir . . ..”
“Your family?” Harry said suspiciously, scowling, not liking how the elf seemed to regard his “family.” Or his duty to that family.
“Dobby serves a family, sir. . . . Dobby is a house-elf . . . bound to serve that family forever . . ..”
“Do they know you’re here?” asked Harry carefully.
The house-elf shuddered and looked at him, horrified. “No, sir, oh, no . . . Dobby will punish himself most grievously, most grievously, indeed, for being here, sir. Dobby will have to slam the oven door on his ears for this. If they knew, sir . . ..” He shuddered again.
Harry frowned, puzzled, “But . . . won’t they notice if you do that?”
He shook his head sadly. “Dobby doubts it, sir,” the house-elf responded frankly. “Dobby always has to punish himself for something, sir. They lets Dobby get on with it, sir. Sometimes they reminds me . . ..”
Harry shook his head angrily. He knew that house-elves were trapped in a symbiotic relationship with their families. The only way a house-elf could leave would be if the family wanted him or her to leave. Fortunately, only the family-head could dismiss an elf by giving them clothes, so an angry child couldn’t dismiss the family elf in a fit of pique. Unfortunately, though, a few families took advantage of that fact to mistreat the small servants.
His mum and the Princesses took great care that their elves were well-treated, as they should be. The only disagreements were in preventing the little housekeepers from going overboard and tackling too much work.
For a house-elf to disobey his family was almost impossible. Dobby’s family’s treatment of him must be extremely severe if he was willing to suffer more abuse from them by going against their desires. Only a very mentally unstable elf would act against his own family.
Eyeing the weeping elf, Harry knew this elf had to be severely unstable. It would be best to treat him as carefully as possible.
After living with the Dursleys, Harry could sympathize with the house-elf. Sometimes, Harry wasn’t so sure of his own mental health. Sometimes . . . sometimes he had difficulty remembering he was a good pony! Today’s venture into the Ministry had been a bit too stressful, he admitted to himself.
He sighed. “So, why are you here?” he asked rubbing his forehead.
Once more sitting, Dobby leaned forward, his eyes almost as big as lorry’s headlights.
“Dobby heard,” he whispered hoarsely, “that Harry Potter met the . . . the Dark Lord a second time . . . just weeks ago . . . that Harry Potter escaped, again.”
Harry nodded. “But my mum and Headmaster Dumbledore were also there,” he said. He shuddered as he remembered what had happened. “I almost didn’t survive,” he whispered reluctantly.
The house elf’s eyes shone with tears.
“Ah, sir,” he gasped. He wiped his face on the grimy pillowcase he wore. “Brave is Harry Potter! So many dangers has he already defied! But Dobby has come to Harry Potter, to protect him, and warn him! Even if Dobby shuts his ears in the oven door, later . . ..” He sat up straight and stared at Harry. “Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts,” he ordered.
Harry sat still for a moment as what the elf had said soaked into his mind. Then he laughed sardonically. “Not gonna happen,” he said, shaking his head. “The Princesses want me to go to Hogwarts, to Hogwarts I will go!” he said dutifully. He shrugged. “Besides, if Dumbledore let anything happen to me, mum would toss him in Tartarus!” He paused a second. “Or Celestia would banish him to the moon for a thousand years.” He grinned wryly. “Or mum would toss him into the dungeons and then Celestia would banish him to the moon.”
“No, no, no,” Dobby squeaked emphatically. His ears flapped like an elephant’s as he violently shook his head. “Harry Potter is too good, too great, to risk. Harry Potter must stay home! He will be in mortal danger at Hogwarts!” Dobby said in a dire tone.
“Mortal danger?” repeated Harry. Even with Voldemort at Hogwarts last year, it had been the safest Harry had ever been! Something had only tried to kill him two times in ten months. That would have been a record for Equestria. It couldn’t begin to compare to the regular beatings the Dursleys gave him.
“A plot, Harry Potter, there is a most deadly plot,” the house elf whispered conspiratorially. “Terrible things will happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year!” Dobby was trembling so greatly he almost fell over. “For months, sir, Dobby has known. Harry Potter is too important, sir. He must not go to Hogwarts!”
Immediately attentive, Harry asked, “What things? Who’s plotting them?” He stared at the house-elf angrily.
Dobby jumped up and ran headfirst into a tree, backed up, and did it again.
“Right! Right!” Harry cried, lunging forward as he once more grabbed the elf. “I get it, you can’t tell me. But why are you warning me?” Almost as soon as he said it, he knew. He slyly smiled. “This has to do with You-Know-Who, doesn’t it?”
Dobby turned to look at the tree, again.
“Wait! Just nod or shake your head,” he quickly said.
Slowly, Dobby nodded his head.
“Well, it can’t be too serious, then, can it? Just this morning I tossed the wraith that was Tom Riddle, You-Know-Who, Voldemort, through the Veil of Death in the Ministry,” Harry said confidently. “He’s all sorted!”
Dobby stared at him, wide-eyed, and whispered, “Harry Potter is truly great!”
Then he shuddered. “But, danger still bees at Hogwarts!”
Harry looked away for a moment and sighed deeply. “Dobby, I have to go the Hogwarts. Everyone wants me to go to Hogwarts . . . the Princesses, my mum, Headmaster Dumbledore, Minister Fudge. Even if I didn’t want to go to Hogwarts, they would make sure I did.” He shook his head. “No pony, or house-elf, can fight an entire world by himself.” He took a deep breath. “Besides, my herdmates will be there. I can’t . . . won’t . . . let them get hurt! Not to mention my friends. What kind of friend would I be if I left them to face the danger and never did anything to help them?” he asked reasonably.
“But, Harry Potter, sir,” Dobby’s voice was barely above a whisper. “There be powers that no decent wizard knows . . ..”
Dobby bounded up again, and dashed, head-first, into the tree.
Harry again tackled the crazed elf. “Sorry, Dobby, but I can’t abandon my herdmates and friends. I promise, promise, I’ll be extra careful. And I’ll tell both Dumbledore and my mum what you said.”
He held the elf at arms-length. “You’ve done what you set out to do, warned me! Now let me do what I have to do. Please?”
Dobby stared at him.
“Now, go back to your home. Don’t punish yourself over this, you haven’t done anything requiring punishment,” Harry said firmly. He let go of the house-elf.
Dobby looked at him uncertainly, then disappeared.
Harry sighed and stood up. He brushed his hand across the bottom of his trousers and started towards the Quidditch pitch. He would have to think carefully about what he would tell his herdmates. If he wasn’t careful, they would be all over this, trying to solve the mystery.
He carefully set it aside in his mind and waved at the pegasus practicing flying through the Quidditch hoops without touching them, snapping her wings closed at the last possible instant.
Ginny thoroughly enjoyed having Harry’s attention the rest of the afternoon and evening, even if Ron did insist that they play several of games of chess after dinner. Ginny sat beside him and held his hand. Between the two of them, they made Ron work for his victories.
Harry was slowly coming to terms with the concept that all five of his herd mates wanted to be herdmates. It still boggled his mind. Unfortunately, he had no idea of how to be a herdmate back. And he certainly didn’t want to do anything that they might misinterpret as meaning he didn’t like them.
However, holding hands seemed to be something they liked. And hugging.
But ponies always hugged each other, anyway, so how was that different between herdmates and others? Kissing — snogging they said here — seemed lots more complicated. Kissing on the cheek, like he did with his mum, was one thing. The full-on snogging he had seen in the Gryffindor common room, on the other hoof, made him uncomfortable.
What did they expect him to do? Or not to do?
۸-_-۸
Neville Longbottom’s birthday party on Thursday was the day before his, and was scheduled to last from just after lunch until just before dinner. Cake and ice cream would be in the middle of the afternoon so that the children could work off that extra sugar energy before dinner.
Unfortunately, the afternoon party at the Longbottom estate was awkward. Harry made his normal, humiliating floo entrance by sliding across the marble floor as a unicorn, and barely missed knocking Neville down. Why he had turned into a unicorn, he wasn’t sure. His four hooves weren’t any more effective at slowing him down than sliding on his trousers would have been.
Neville, who had never seen Harry use the floo, stared wide-eye and incredulous, then burst out laughing. His grandmother, Madam Longbottom, kept her amusement to a smile as he changed back to a person, blushing deeply. She welcomed Harry warmly as his herdmates arrived in a more dignified manner. Neville escorted them to the ballroom hosting the party, where they dropped off their presents at the table reserved for that.
It was supposed to be Neville’s twelfth birthday party. Regrettably, he spent most of the time in the beginning just introducing Harry to his guests’ parents. From Ginny’s and Hermione’s reactions, Harry got the impression that parents didn’t usually stay during children’s parties. Poor Neville. Side-lined on his own birthday for politics.
On top of yesterday, Harry had to struggle to keep his temper in check and present the happy-child appearance they all craved to see.
The kids, of course, all knew Harry, but for most parents this was the first chance they had ever had to meet the famous boy. And they were making the most of the opportunity to say a few words to the little wizard. And to check out the five — five! — girls shadowing him and alternating holding his hands.
Every parent’s attention drawn to the fact that Harry was here, enjoying a party with his wizard and witch friends, and not squirreled away in Equestria. Ginny and Hermione were quick to point out that Harry planned his birthday party for tomorrow at the Weasleys. It was, however, restricted to just close friends.
The parents understood that that party would be for Harry and Neville, to make up for the political nature of this one.
His mum had convinced him that this would be the perfect semi-public manner in which to broadcast the message that Harry Potter was not available. It was only thing that made the party bearable to Harry. His herdmates were more than happy to fulfil her request to be extra demonstrative, and Harry wasn’t about to discourage them. Plus, it was fun.
The adults’ fleeting disappointed looks whenever one or two of the girls hugged or kissed him, and he hugged and kissed back, showed that the strategy was working. Maybe it would keep some of the upper-year girls from making a nuisance of themselves, at their parents’ requests.
That wasn’t the only goal, of course. This affair had been painstakingly orchestrated by the Equestrian Princesses and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore — who was the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Every detail had been thoroughly planned ahead of time. It was all a demonstration to the wizards and witches that Harry was very involved with the United Kingdom’s magical world. They didn’t even want to hint that Harry considered Equestria his home and that he would be glad to be shot of the magical world once he left Hogwarts.
That his mum, Princess Sparkle, also attended the party, drew a great deal of the adults’ attention, and there was a constant knot of wizards and witches around her, hanging on every word and asking questions about Equestria, or Atlantis, as they insisted on calling it.
There was even a photographer at the party, allegedly to take photographs of the Longbottom Heir enjoying his friends and the games they played at his party. The photographer, though, focused more on Harry and his mum than Neville. His Equestrian girlfriends, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom, with their outrageous hair, by witchery standards, were always just outside the framed shots. Harry, Ginny Weasley, the pure-blood witch, and Hermione Granger, the muggle-born new witch, on the other hand, were almost always in the shot. If nothing else, the two girls were in the background interacting with another student — usually the son or daughter of the adult Harry was meeting.
The party had almost every student from the first year, including Draco and his bunch. Fortunately, they were all on their best behaviour — their parents made sure of that. Still, Draco managed to let slip a few disgusted looks at the way the herd was fawning over Harry. He couldn’t hide the envy in his eyes at seeing them become ponies.
Naturally, none of the adults had had a chance, yet, to actually see the herd as their pony selves. As a result, the herd made a point of spending some of the party as ponies, to the non-students’ delight.
Harry had managed to talk his mum into inviting the Gryffindor Quidditch team, which served as a bit of a distraction.
The parents watched, almost as gobsmacked as the students had been in Hogwarts on the first day, last year. Their calculating expressions, when they thought none of the herd were watching, made them shiver — and not pleasantly. That some of those calculating looks were directed at Oliver Wood, the team Captain, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, the two Chasers, who were all happy to show off their Pegasus forms, was a relief. That Fred and George Weasley weren’t shy to show off the unicorn forms also helped.
Oliver even had the team members present put on a brief Pegasus Quidditch scramble for the crowd’s entertainment. More than a few adults would be pressing their children to approach the gifted witches and wizards.
Ron, while not as spectacular as a unicorn or Pegasus in his pony form, was happy to show off his “growing” skills on a vase of flowers. He, too, would find himself the target of a few admirers, Harry knew. From what his mum had told him, the non-herd member’s animagus abilities made them into hot commodities. Daphne Greengrass seemed especially interested.
Ron looked lost when surrounded by girls, and perpetually red-faced — sometimes almost matching his hair in shade.
Harry’s mum and the Princesses had thought the adults might not get the message that the herd were a unit and couldn’t be split up. They had planned accordingly. So it was that she casually let drop that the incoming class for this year at Hogwarts was going to have more than a few Equestrian students. She didn’t mention a number, but said it would be a dozen or two. She added, as an after-thought, that the Princesses were planning on doing that for the foreseeable future. This new magic, and what the witches had done with it, was just soo interesting.
The adults that heard, quickly spread the news. Groups of adults quickly formed and the calculating looks seemed friendlier, now, somehow.
The fillies and girls were just as disgusted with the way the adults were acting as Harry and Neville. Of course, there wasn’t anything they could actually do about it, though, except grin and bear it. Hermione managed to ignore it the best with by disappearing into the Longbottom Library for an hour before the herd noticed her absence, hunted her down, and dragged her out again.
It was far worse than the Grand Galloping Galas for all the attention Harry garnered, and at the expense of his friend. Harry had no doubt that if he had been older, he would have been in for a Grand Ball reception, just like the ones in Equestria. Fortunately, the witches and wizards seemed to think a birthday party would be more appropriate for the ages of the kids. If Neville had been in Equestria, he would have been at a Grand Ball for introduction to society. Here, that was put off for another three years.
Neville didn’t seem to mind not being in the limelight. In fact, he seemed quite relieved at not being the centre of attention.
During one quiet moment as they were setting up for the opening of the presents — Harry had to be sitting beside Neville for this, his mum had insisted the day before — Neville whispered, “I don’t know how you do it. I’d be terrified of tripping or making a mistake.”
“You think I’m not?” Harry whispered back, looking at him with wide-eyes.
Neville gave him a look, then whispered, “Better you than me.” Then he looked around and sighed. Noblesse oblige.
After the presents, and cake, came more games.
Eventually, Harry was relieved to see, people started collecting their children and leaving. Naturally, every parent had to say their farewells to Harry as well as Neville. Which meant he and the girls were the last to leave.
Before they left, however, Harry made a quick trip to one of the bathrooms. He just knew that floo trip on full, or even just half-full, bladder could only end in an embarrassing disaster for him.
He was just washing his hands when someone else came in. He was tall, but otherwise rather non-descript. “Did you have a fun time?” he asked.
Harry gave the standard, “It was great!”
The stranger nodded, and looked into the mirror as he twirled his long, thin, moustache. “Right,” he said sceptically, and smirked.
Harry glanced back into the mirror and froze. Standing beside him was Discord. He was afraid to look directly.
Mirror-Discord gave him a very wide grin. “Sometimes,” he said in Pinkie Pie’s voice, “Subtlety can lead to far more entertainment than an outright prank.” His grin grew wider. “Can you imagine a cuter couple than Diamond Tiara and Draco Malfoy?”
Harry frantically tried to remember if he had seen that tall stranger talking to any of the adult wizards or witches at the party. As Harry stared at him in horror, he slowly dissolved into a white mist and disappeared.
His mum was not pleased when he whispered his encounter to her. She told him to tell the Weasleys that something had come up and she had an important emergency meeting in Canterlot.
He was exhausted by the time he made it back to The Burrow. After dinner, they made their way outside. Ron took great pride in showing Apple Bloom what he had managed in the orchard so far that summer while the others took to the pond for swimming.
After a late dinner, to compensate for all the cake and ice-cream at the party, the girls retired to their trunk-room while Harry bunked with Ron. It was an early bedtime.
^·_·^
This year, for the first time, ever, Harry James Sparkle-Potter had a birthday party on Earth — excepting that his parents had probably given him one when he was only a year old. Unfortunately, the Dark Lord Voldemort had killed them before his parents could give him a second birthday party.
Unhappily, his remaining relatives had always said, “freaks like you don’t deserve birthday parties.” So, he had only watched enviously as his cousin was outrageously feted to the excess on his birthday — and his cousin wasn’t shy about demonstrating to Harry how much better he had it than the orphan.
Which meant Harry’s party in Equestria when he turned ten, two years ago, had been the first in his memory. It was too bad that he had been far too insecure at the time to enjoy the party. He had kept expecting the “gotcha” that the Dursleys had taught him to expect. He had been hesitant to accept a good occasion as anything but a trap to hurt him, whether physically or psychologically. Plus, everything about Equestria was still new to him.
His second had been much more enjoyable, even if it had been overshadowed by his mum’s disappointment over him concealing the existence of the Portal to Earth. The letter from Hogwarts had also confused the occasion.
This year, his birthday party in Equestria was a full-blown Pinkie Pie party celebration. It took place around lunch time. Half the town, it seemed, had shown up, including everypony from the Ponyville primary school. Or, rather, everypony he had known before all the new ponies had moved into town. The Portal, and its implications and realities, had swelled the population, doubling in the time he had spent at Hogwarts. The town was still quickly growing, becoming an important centre for commerce, technology, and magic.
Trains were no longer twice a day, but once an hour.
The floo-technology ameliorated that growth, somewhat. It allowed instant transportation across the entire continent of Equestria. Otherwise, the town would have been ten-times as big. However, the floo system, while growing by leaps and bounds, was still far too limited in scope to reach everywhere it was needed. As a result, many important ponies felt that their companies, educational facilities, or research firms required a physical presence, as well. Plus, floo-powder was still in short supply and sharply rationed.
At the party, the fillies and colts, and a quite a few mares and stallions, were all agog at the rings the five fillies wore — although on this side of the portal they were bracelets. Harry’s constant proclamations that the magical bracelets were to keep his filly friends safe merely enhanced the looks of awe. Usually, it was the fillies getting gifts for their colts when things were serious. That they were magical, too, simply increased their importance as gifts. Harry, wisely, did not mention he had given other rings to his Gryffindor roommates and a few select other individuals at school.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were almost green with envy — literally. He wondered if next year they both might show up at Hogwarts. He shuddered, remembering Discord’s remark. Even being two years behind Harry and the CMC, the rewards of being versed in this new magic were just too great.
Most of the older fillies were sad that Harry had a herd. On the other hoof, that he had removed so many fillies from the stallion competition was a pleasant thought to them. They were quite interested to hear that the ratio of mares-to-stallions on the other side of the portal was one-to-one. He had to wonder, though, how many humans would be willing to move to Equestria and live as ponies. Or vice versa for the fillies and mares.
He had to admit, he was perfectly willing to stay a pony or a person if his herd wanted. But the average person or pony? He couldn’t see Malfoy, Zabini, Parkinson, or Greengrass being anything but disgusted at the idea. And the same was true in reverse for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Just from how his herdmates had reacted to the food and attitudes in the wizarding world, few ponies would be willing to abandon Equestria. But . . . Discord.
Although, now that he thought about it, the plenitude of magical gems in Equestria meant any such herds would have the financial ability to split their time between both worlds without too much strain.
The Weasley children, with Arthur and Molly making a brief appearance, all attended the Equestrian party. As did a few close friends from Hogwarts. The boys were more than a little bit overwhelmed by the attention they received from the fillies at the party. That the fillies and young mares here were so forward left them more than a bit skittish. Watching their reactions gave Harry quite a few laughs — even as he realized he had reacted almost the same in his first year here.
The girls from the Gryffindor Quidditch team were wide-eyed at the competition that lined up for the older boys on the team. Oliver was in second heaven for the attention he received from the Pegasi and spent almost the entire party discussing quidditch. Which was rapidly becoming a major topic among the pegasi.
Harry thought that if Wood wasn’t careful, he might have a Quidditch team of herdmates.
Everyone was interested in what he and the cutie mark crusaders had been up to. His confirming the rumours of an entire herd of centaurs beside the school had every colt and filly shuddering, as well as a few adults — the Flower sisters fainted. His mum’s assurances that the centaurs on the other side of the portal were friendly and eschewed the use of magic only partly calmed them down.
Hopefully, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, now that they had cutie marks, wouldn’t cause too much destruction trying to see if they could get a witch a cutie mark when they returned to Hogwarts.
Finally having cutie marks had made for an oddly quiet summer for the herd, and Ponyville. On the other hoof, long-time Ponyville residents still headed for cover when they saw them coming, to the bewilderment of the newest residents.
Still, he had great fun at the party as did everypony else. Of course, that depended on your definition of fun. Hermione spent most of the party interrogating the older unicorns on what interesting spells they might know. She was amazed to learn that most used magic on an instinctual level and actually knew fewer specific spells than she did.
Meanwhile, the ponies spent most of their time interrogating Harry’s herd and the visitors from Earth what they knew about magic. Seeing pegasi and earth ponies casting spells was, well, spell-binding. Next year’s crop of volunteer’s for Hogwarts might be quite a bit bigger.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were inordinately interested, Harry realized.
Then it was back through the portal. It was time for more of the “let’s show the witches and wizards that Harry Potter hasn’t left England for Equestria” tour, Harry sourly thought.
^·_·^
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If they have their cutie marks now, does that not tie in with Diamond Tiara's reformation? And Silver Spoon distancing herself from her friend, at least for a little while?
A cunning , calculating, but not stupidly vicious Diamond Tiara might be fun. Harry more so than his the CMCs might be a lot slower to forgive due to his own history with bullies.
My personal Head Canon is that this version of Discord is happy to sit back with a bag of popcorn and just enjoy the show. but from the D.T. remark I wonder if he doesn't sometime change the channel and watch the alternative version.
I'm going to mention it over in the other story as well, but a fun non-canon one shot where the two casts get mixed up and end up in each other's Hogwarts might be a hoot.
I'm extremely glad that I reread the first book pretty recently. Now I look forward to reading this one!
Nice chapter
It's great to see the sequel!
Nice to see that Equestria is adapting Wizarding Britain magic to their ends (the Floo network), but I hope to see more of Equestria-Muggle Britain interactions (I bet that a lot of the other nations are asking Britain Government to talk with the "aliens"...
). It would be nice to see what Muggle technologies are being adopted by the ponies (RADAR would be very useful and I bet that someone in the UK government is thinking in how to see the Peel P50 to Equestria 
).
And I hope that we see Castor (and his family) and the solicitor again. Can't wait to see the Equestrian's opinion for the works of J.R.R.Tolkien and C.S.Lewis, as for Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie (specially Rarity and Twilight).
Maybe later in the story we can see Harry meeting Sunset?
10573618
.
Discord's comment about Diamond Tiara and Draco actually puts me in mind of Magic School Days, where that is one of the (many) plot points. Honestly, if anyone could swap between Harry Potter/MLP crossovers, it would be Discord
10573670
I'd really like to see Caster's daughter going to Equestria as an exchange student and to master her Pegasus Magic. Sort of a turn about situation.
10573685
What I was thinking.
10573434
Yep, have to admit, that cover art is a bit creepy looking. It's one of those pieces that just has the wrong balance of stylized vs realism.
Ouch the poor witches and wizards are only pushing him away with how they are acting. I wonder how his classmates are talking all of this and if they will realize the problem?
Ahhh Discord, always around to throw the proverbial wrench into the gears. Lovely lovely chaos...
Floo powder is only produces in diagon alley, nobody hasn't manage to succesfully produce it, and that would be fin to cater the wizards in britain, not that many, BUT, to an entire continent in equestria, they won't, so either twilight or onother unicorn manage to create one, or a similar one for them, or they just invest heavely in the floo powder company, giving money, materials, personel etc. to rpoduce to an entire country, and possible an entire new world, the first option is best i guess.
10573711
Sounds like a fun time for someone. I'm not interested, but if someone else wants to take it . . .
I knew it, they forgot something when they were sweeping for horcuxes.
Cadance: I felt a disturbance in my domain.
10573946
Actually, there was another point I wanted to make in the same post and them sort of relating to each other. I really can't see Twilight not wanting very much to understand why some humans have magic and others don't, and how to correct that. She'd pretty much have to see a lack of magic as being a disability.
Taking on human students with varying degrees of magic ability from none to tons would give her a selection to examine and test.
Witches
The more I think on it, it would be very interesting if multiple beings from Equestria/Equis show up and if Diamond actually attends she is the only one sorted into Slythrin. How would Dumbeldor and the staff react to that happening?
Hoping to see some familiar faces among the new Hogwarts exchange students.
10574246
The blood supremacists stinking that house would eat her alive, methinks.
Seriously, as much a b*tch Tiara is, the dark pureblood children in Slytherin are far more vicious and would see her as nothing or a pawn to be sacrificed at their earlier convenience.
nice work.
10574266
I had a lengthy response all written out, but then I remembered the episode where the CMC got their marks and how she did start her heel face turn. It makes me wonder why the CMC wouldn’t want their new friends to go to school with them?
10574556
The reason that term is used so much is because our current POV character Harry, having gone native sees things from an Equestrian perspective, and in Book I it has been pretty well established that Equestria is a matriarchal society with largely reversed gender roles compared to western society, including the tendency to default to female pronouns much like how the English speaking world defaults to male pronouns.
Oh you poor deluded fools.
(Also I think I missed it when did the CMC get cutie mark and are they the same or different to cannon? Also I’m assuming Harry is stil a ‘blank flank’?)
Now that I can’t believe, has Harry’s commitments on Earth really stop the CMC from doing any adventures?
Ah from cover i though its gonna be Discworld, such a dissapointment
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how in any way did you get Discworld out of the cover?
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Remind a little of Rincewind
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That's true, except when the vast majority, on the order of 5000:1 don't have magic, then that's the norm. With those numbers, you can make the argument that having magic is the aberration. After all, we don't see Twilight that upset that cows, who are intelligent, don't seem to have magic.
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thanks.
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I don't disagree, but Twilight tends to focus on abnormalities. she'd be just as interested in why some people have magic as to why some don't.
I'm sure if one in a thousand cows could do magic, Twilight would want very much to know why.
And there are lots of humans who should be able to do magic, and can't. She'd regard that as a disability. Like Scootaloo's wings. And as magic is her thing she'd want to make sure it's not something catching.
Oohhhh, there is something for the haters. We can't let humans in to mingle with our population. Especially the squibs. What if whatever makes them squibs is catching?
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Except that Remus was the PoV character. That would make sense if the term changed depending on who the PoV character was (with Wizards and people like Twilight using the correct term, and most ponies using a Matriarchal term), but it doesn't.
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Ooh, I like that. Don't know that I'll use it, but it's good.
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It could be said by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon upon hearing that Squibs cannot use Magic while on Earth despite being born into a Magical Family with many generations of Witches and Wizards on both sides.
0:01-0:05
https://youtu.be/12c6AIrRY4U
Ah! I'm late to the party!
Either way, I really look forward to what you do with Daphne Greengrass (if anything at all).
Basically all we do know about her is that her sister is the recipient of a blood curse and goes on to marry Draco so she's kinda a blank slate, but in (other, non-pony) fanfics I've read she tended to be one of the more reasonable Slytherins. I think Rowling said she participated in the Battle of Hogwarts against Voldemort, too, so that's nifty.
But yea. I'm glad to be back.
This makes it sound like Fred and George are pegasi as well, but that definitely wasn't the case in the first story, except for that one day that Discord made them all pegasi.
This sounds like them having cutie marks was something already known in the story, but is the first time it's mentioned. Replacing "now that they had cutie marks" with something like "having received their cutie marks at the start of summer" would be less confusing. The sentence is pretty long though, so replacing "trying to see if they could get a witch a cutie mark" with simply "crusading" for brevity might be a good idea.
Side note, I actually just finished rereading the first story about a week before this came out. That seems to happen a lot with me. I reread a completed story waiting for a sequel or what's written of an incomplete story, and just as I finish, something new will come out for them.
oh, this made me think of a story where a centaur from a different story winds up in Equestria:
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/432523/daily-equestria-life-with-monster-girl
Ifthe CMC have their CM don't thar kean DT was reformed?
D'awww...!
I still find it weird to imagine little kids in any kind of "serious" relationship, but maybe that's just because of the kind of people I grew up around.
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Remember, though, Ginny has had her mother telling her for years that she and Harry would be a thing, and she just copies what she sees her parents doing together in public. Harry, on the other hoof, has had the fillies being very cuddly in Equestria, so he's somewhat used to the idea of contact.
Shoot, I remember having a girlfriend in second grade! She even wanted to kiss!
I don't know why the author is trying to show Diamond Tiara as antagonistic after the CMC got their cutie mark, since it is shown in show canon that DT is reformed. It would have worked out on the previous/first book, but not on this.
Damn... Politics are never easy.
Harry will be quite the Stud one day
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Probably because of her mother Spoiled Milk.
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- Voldemort was a Dramaking.
- Stallion are perfect to raise Foals.
- As the saying goes: Never say 'no' to a Stallions homecooking.
- Stallions have the saying in the Kitchen, period.
- Never fight Stallions on the furniture, a Mare always loses the argument.
Etc. Etc.
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We need more Nightponies. Do they gave Tufts on their eartipps and cute little fangs?
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What is the stuff made of anyway? Dragon scale powder? Kitten hairballs? Chuck Norris beard hairs?
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Voldemort 2.0 in cute?... ... ... Cuddle it to death
Plenty of Squibs would love a home in Equestria, just for the chance to own a Wand of their own? If not all, but numerous enough)
After Voldemort is presumably no more, noone needs him for something that dangerous anymore.
Unfortunately he is a Prince, maybe what is coming his way is more dangerous than old Voldemort was.
The Yeti invasion will end the same day it will start.
But a real Grogar would still be problematic.
For probably more than a day or two...